Comment by interimus

So hopefully it does just that, increase block value. Not sure for how much though. Otherwise it may be based off the use of another ability like judge, shield of righteousness or holy shield.

Comment by Benegesserit

What does it take for people to realize that especially with 3.1, Blizzard has been forcing prot pallies in to the most attractive OT/trash/aoe tank role once again and provided better MT benefits for the other specs (minus DK balancing thanks to Sarth)? I see two good pieces for an MT on our new tier set, and now two multi-boss raids with nary an MT related libram. Don't forget our 11pt insta-gib for MTs, as well as the 4pc bonus to tier 8.

Prot paladins are not asking for massive incs in BV, worthless truckloads of BR, and basically all the things they have been doing recently to put us back into what raids will prefer to use us for...our greatest strength.

Saying we CAN MT now in 3.1 is like saying we CAN tank Sarth right now. Sure, you CAN now thanks to the WotLK revamp, but what serious guild won't find superior alternatives?

Comment by Zanarkand

And it dropped off General Vezax in heroic for us. Other bosses could have it in their loot too, though.

Comment by heine123

Libram of the Sacred Shield: Increases block value.

anyone been able to track yet, how much BV this gives?

Comment by LafinJack

Note that this is called "Libram of the Sacred Shield", not "Libram of Sacred Shield". A coupleplaces list this as giving 272 block rating when our Holy Shield is up, which works out to about %8.3 block rating along with the other goodness Holy Shield has. It will apparently drop from heroic Kologarn, sixth boss of Ulduar.

Sorry for abusing the bold, I wanted to straighten it out since Blizzard didn't help by naming this after another skill. :)

Comment by LafinJack

Note that this is called "Libram of the Sacred Shield", not "Libram of Sacred Shield". A coupleplaces list this as giving 272 block value when our Holy Shield is up. It will apparently drop from heroic Kologarn, sixth boss of Ulduar.

Sorry for abusing the bold, I wanted to straighten it out since Blizzard didn't help by naming this after another skill. :)

Comment by Artharas

This Libram is pretty interesting. Basicly over the course of 8 Holy shield ticks it will mitigate 2176 dmg.Libram of Obstruction gives you 5s buff of 352 SBV. It takes 2176/352 = ~6.2 blocked hits over the 5s buff duratation for Libram of Obstruction to equal this one. I have around 50% avoidance, so the actual number of hits that need to be done to me for the 2 librams to equal will be 6.2/0.5 = ~12.5.

If we say a mob attacks every 2.4s he will get 5/2.4 = ~2.1 attacks on you while the libram is active.This means that it will take 12.5/2.1 = ~6 mobs to make the old libram equal to this one.

So this libram is better in most circumstances while the old one mitigates more still in very heavy multimob situation.This assumes the mobs are doing no special attacks, the number sways in favour of Obstruction if mobs use blockable special attacks and in favour of Sacred Shield the more avoidance you have

Comment by varmin

For comparing threat only:Libram of the Sacred Shield: 272 BV per ShoRLibram of Obsturction: 352*(2/3) = 235 BV per ShoR

In a perfect 96969 rotation, your LoO will affect exactly 2 of every 3 ShoR, putting LoO a lot higher than most people think. (Though still less than the new Libram)

Comment by theothersteve7

Technically in a 969 rotation you get exactly 2/3 uptime with LoO, giving it effective BV of 352*2/3 = 234.67

The more important thing here is that the vast majority of your blocked attacks are with Holy Shield up. Once it drops, you're not going to block many attacks unless Redoubt procs or something. Most tanks get over half their block rating from HS. All in all I'd consider this a strict upgrade under any circumstances.

Comment by Shedim

As for rotation.

If LoO was the reason you want to judge every 9 seconds you can now substitude every second judgment with an exorcism für more aggro.

Comment by Quest

You and the up-raters forgot to include base block chance and redoubt into your calculations.

That math is way too unrealistic.

Comment by WATERBOYsh

Currently, when you use Holy Shield, you get a separate buff that increases your block value. Even if all the Holy Shield charges get used up, the buff will still be up and you still get the increased block value. This libram basically gives a static 272 Block Value (before multipliers) that is up 100% of the time if you correctly follow the 969 rotation.

*edit*As of 3.2.2 the buff this gives is mutually exclusive to the buff that the Libram of Obstruction gives. It will no longer be possible to have both buffs at the same time. The block value of this libram has also been updated to 450 BV for 20 seconds.

Comment by Koorthakh

Anyone else annoyed with the idea that this libram drops off a boss that is basically untankable by a paladin tank? Seriously ridiculous imo.

Comment by Lemonwizard

Vezax's aura does not affect spiritual attunement or blessing of sanctuary, and though you lose divine plea that mana regen has always been extraneous when MTing a raid boss of any significance, used only for the damage reduction from the glyph. Similarly, the core mana regen mechanics of the other non-caster mana users (ret paladins, hunters, enhancement shamans) are also unaffected by this.

Paladins can tank Vezax just fine.

Comment by dingbot1

This libram looks great for main tanking and small AE mitigation, but remember it relies on Holy Shield being active. If you're tanking 6+ mobs, it'll be used up pretty fast, and you'll lose the extra block value.

Comment by Yatta

Hopefully they do something with this libram before 3.2 or it will be worse than Libram of Obstruction. And a 15 badge of heroism libram being better than an Ulduar drop would be kinda... sad

# Block Value: The amount of bonus block value on all items has been doubled. This does not affect the base block value on shields or block value derived from strength.# On-Use Block Value Items: All items and set bonuses that trigger temporary increases to block value have been modified. Instead of increasing their block value amount by 100% like other items, they have all had their effect durations doubled. This applies to Glyph of Deflection, Gnomeregan Autoblocker, Coren's Lucky Coin, Lavanthor's Talisman, Libram of Obstruction, Tome of the Lightbringer, Libram of the Sacred Shield, the tier-8 paladin Shield of Righteousness bonus, the tier-5 paladin Holy Shield bonus, and the tier-5 warrior Shield Block bonus.

Comment by Bojango

Its hard tanking this boss as a paladin, your block rating is always up, but you don't want to take a hit from this guy.I'm the second best geared plate in the realm, and I'm only hitting the bare minimum for this guy.32% Dodge22% Parryand with HS up, I'll hit around 59% Block chance.Im hitting around 1800 Block value on that fight, and I'm getting smacked for 22k.imo. im glad they are buffing value.

Comment by Thorgash

The duration of this libram has currently been set to 20 seconds upon using Holy Shield..The only advantage this offers is that you can benefit from the bonus even if you're not in reach for judging.But that's a very lackluster one, considering it still has 80 Block Value (104 if you take Redoubt into account) less than Libram of Obstruction.So Obstruction will be better while easier to obtain, if this is the final change on the libram.

Comment by Yamboo

Comment by toastermonster

anyone else notice that the tool tip says "sec" twice in a row?"Equip: Increases your block value by 272 for 20 sec sec each time you use Holy Shield."

Comment by weezel

Tooltip is bugged yeah.

This item most likely will see a fix sooner or later, at least now it's buyable with badges. however, the 200 dodge rating libram from Triumph badges is rather tasty too - both of these librams would suit any tanks defensive and offensive gearsets nicely

Comment by Quest

Dear Blizzard,

Hey, can we maybe, you know, trade 10seconds of the duration for more block?

Your friend in math,Quest

Comment by snrfrito

"Diminishing Returns isn't affecting Block Value so much as it's affecting the benefit Shield Slam and Shield of Righteousness."

Starting with WoW 3.2, the contribution of block value to the damage done by Warrior Shield Slam and Paladin Shield of the Righteous has diminishing returns. These diminishing returns begin at 30 times your level (2400 block value for a level 80), and there is a hard cap of 34.5 times your level (2760 for level 80). If you have more block value than the cap, then it is not used to determine your shield slam damage. Block value gained from strength, itemised on gear, and gained through items such as block value trinkets all seem to be affected by the diminishing returns. Increases to block value through abilities and talents do not seem to be affected by the diminishing returns (i.e. you will still get pretty good Shield Clam crits with Shield Block up.)

These diminishing returns DO NOT affect how much incoming damage you can block in any way.

Comment by Blitzz

As of the MoP pre-patch all librams are gone, the ones you already had, has been turned in grey items with no effect.